Bitcoin price recovery sees cryptocurrency rise $100 per day in July

'I’ve stuck to my $50,000 Bitcoin price target for end of year 2018,' one bitcoin enthusiast said

Anthony Cuthbertson
Wednesday 25 July 2018 12:27 BST
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Bitcoin has experienced a remarkable price recovery since suffering its worst ever start to a year
Bitcoin has experienced a remarkable price recovery since suffering its worst ever start to a year (iStock)

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Bitcoin has risen an average of $100 every day since the start of July, gaining over 40 per cent in value in just over three weeks.

Figures from CoinMarketCap reveal the cryptocurrency's remarkable rise from below $6,000, which followed bitcoin's worst ever start to a year. Unusually, the impressive gains were not mirrored by other major cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, ripple and EOS.

The turn-around in fortunes follows predictions from several cryptocurrency analysts who claimed that the price falls would seem trivial in the long-run.

The price of bitcoin reached over $8,400 on Wednesday, despite a decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to delay its ruling on a major bitcoin ruling.

The decision relates to an application for a bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund), which blockchain platform SolidX requested through the Chicago Board of Exchange.

Analysts predict bitcoin's price could sky rocket if approved, citing the introduction of a gold ETF 15 years ago that saw the commodities value shoot up by 300 per cent.

In delaying its ruling, the SEC said: "The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider this proposed rule change."

The SEC has already dismissed a previous bitcoin ETF request made last year, blaming bitcoin's price volatility.

Cryptocurrency analysts are hopeful that the latest gains signal a longer term return to the record highs bitcoin experienced in late 2017, with some even betting it could even go well beyond.

Anthony Pompliano, a venture capitalist and founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, has consistently made positive price predictions for bitcoin and took the latest gains as an opportunity to stand by his bold claim that the cryptocurrency could hit $50,000 in less than six months.

If that is to happen, bitcoin would need to rise by considerably more than $100 per day. An average gain of $261 per day would be required in order to hit that mark.

In December, when bitcoin's price was close to its all-time high of $20,000, Mr Pompliano argued against bitcoin experiencing a bubble.

"I think that rather than being in a bubble that's going to have some massive crash, I think there's minor corrections that happen along the way," he told Bloomberg. "I think they happen on both a daily and monthly basis and so I think we'll continue to see those minor corrections over time... I think it's going to continue to rise over time."

What is Bitcoin and why is its price so high?

But with bitcoin's price notoriously difficult to predict, other experts have been more cautious in their forecasts.

"We'll still see some volatility in the next few months, with the possibility of the price dropping even further than the recent $6,000 low, to around $5,000, before bitcoin can start its next run," Christian Ferri, president and CEO of blockchain firm BlockStar, told The Independent.

"There were not major news or updates that could justify the recent price spike to over $8,000. It's probable that the new high was caused by new money coming into the market."

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